Monday, 29 May 2017

I've been packing in preparation for our move and trying to relax a little too.

This past week, however, has been a living hell and I want to document it so that I remember all the details, although, they are pretty hard to forget.

Last Monday was Victoria Day. I woke up in the morning, feeling really sluggish and had a bit of a tummy ache. Tummy aches are nothing new for me as I suffer from IBS-D and have for most of my life. But, looking back now, Monday was just DIFFERENT. I went about my day, just kind of pottering around. Around lunchtime, Hubster suggested All Star Wings for dinner and so that was the plan. At around 3:45, I told Hubster I wasn't feeling well and didn't feel up to dinner, but for him to take the boys anyway. He insisted I come. UGH. So, at about 5:30, we headed to the restaurant. My stomach was still off, but, YOLO, so I ordered a beer and nachos. I only had about five handfuls of the nachos and I was full. I nursed the beer while the boys finished their wings and we headed home.

I had stomach ache all night. Tossed and turned, couldn't get comfortable. It felt like bad gas, but nothing would pass either way. At about 4:00 am, I threw up. There was very little in my stomach and I went back to bed to toss and turn some more. I thought I may have food poisoning as it felt like there was a rock in my stomach...dead centre in my abdomen.

I called the doctor first thing in the morning and got a 10:00 appointment. Hubster was home last week, so he drove me. As soon as the doctor started pressing on my belly, he said he suspected appendicitis. I literally laughed and said, "But it hurts all over, not just on my right!" He stood by his thoughts and sent us over to urgent care with a requisition. He said, "They will do an ultrasound and some bloodwork. Something is going on in there and we need to get to the bottom of it."

We drove the ten minutes to urgent care and registered. And waited. We spent the day there and after bloodwork was normal and the ultrasound technician couldn't find my appendix, I was a little fed up, still in pain, with a pounding headache and just wanted to go home. Now that I am typing this out, that day is pretty much a blur. I know Hubster took me there, but then, my Mom was there with me at the end when the doctor told us the results. Weird. He said we could either do a CT scan that night or go home and see how I feel. If I got a fever or worse pain, to go back to urgent care. I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

Well....

THAT was a mistake. Another night of tossing and turning turned into a morning of sheer agony. I have never, ever, ever felt pain like I had Tuesday morning. I also had a fever. I called and made an appointment with the doctor, certain it was intestinal and not appendicitis. They gave me 11:40. Half an hour later, I was doubled over. We needed to go to the emergency room. The drive there was pure hell. Every bump sent me into agony. I was crying my eyes out.

Mom met us there and Hubster put me in a wheelchair and headed off to the appointments he had scheduled. They fast tracked me so quickly, it was amazing. I was in and seeing a doctor within the hour. He requisitioned a CT scan and a nurse inserted an IV...after poking me three times and leaving a horrendous bruise, she called in a more experienced nurse, who was able to insert it painlessly, in the other arm. And then we waited.

They took me for my CT scan at about 2:45. When we returned to the waiting area, I begged for pain relief, They hooked me up with morphine. Praise the Lord Jesus for morphine. The results came in about an hour later....confirmed appendicitis. They had called the surgeon and he would be down to see me after he finished in the OR.

Half an hour later, the surgeon took us into a cubicle and said that my appendix had ruptured. The CT scan showed that it was probably a mess in there and that he was on the fence on whether to perform surgery that night because it was very risky after the rupture. He said that keyhole surgery was not an option with me and that I would be cut...4 inches across my bikini line. "You don't have a problem with a bikini line cut, do you?" he asks. HELL NO! GET THIS THING OUT OF ME! He started me on IV Flagyl and Cipro antibiotics and said we needed to let the antibiotics kick in before he operated, but that the surgery would be tonight,

They wheeled me into the OR at about 8:30 and I woke up in recovery at about 10:30. Thirsty, Jeez Louise I was thirsty. And I had to pee. So the nurse gave me water and a bed pan. Ahhhh.....The surgeon came in and told me, "You are a very lucky girl. I have been doing this for 30 years and this is one of the worst cases I have seen. It was a MESS!" Oh. Wow. Who knew? I almost felt bad. LOL!

At 11:30, they wheeled me to my room and for the first time in three days, I felt no pain. Morphine and antibiotics flowed through my veins all night and all day Thursday. I met an amazing woman when she became my room mate on Thursday morning...more about her another time...and I just slept...A LOT.

Friday morning, they discharged me with 7 days worth of Flagyl and Cipro to take at home. Mom took me to her house and she took care of me for two days. I came home yesterday and didn't sleep a wink last night...just tossed and turned. Hopefully, that is a sign that I am on the mend.